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Contact
John Latecki Jr
john@fightingms.org
John Latecki Jr
john@fightingms.org
330-347-6109
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One question I often hear, Do the rafts ever flip over?
The short answer is yes!
Here is a record of some of the flips at the USNWC in 2008
Tuesday, January, 29 James Poulsen flipped at shutdown.
The raft came in sideways through the hole and got sucked back in. This was on the first run of the first trip of 2008. I was
river guarding and witnessed the entire flip and was able to pull a couple of swimmers to shore. James was using a smaller
NRS raft which is more likely to flip and the water was much higher giving the pumps more horsepower then at the end of last
season. That turned shutdown into a monster. Out of all the guides out here James is probably the least likely to flip. That is
what makes this flip so funny.
Sunday, March, 16 Jerry Harms flipped at entrance exam.
Jerry was peeling out of entrance exam and one side of the boat all low sided at the same time. His raft nearly flipped onto
mine as I was peeling out of river right eddy. I picked up a swimmer from his boat.
Jerry was on top of his raft and had it flipped over in what could be described as record time and he was getting back in as he
was going over the next drop.
Wednesday March, 19 Philip Melton flipped at big drop.
According to Philip he went through big drop and was hanging out in Sam, the river right eddy below big drop. He was just
hanging out with his guests and the raft got sucked into the hole and flipped. Philip said it took him longer than normal to get to
his raft and collect his people because he was holding two female guests, (one on each side) as they floated down the last
rapids and into the bottom pond.
Saturday March, 22 Paul Clewley flipped at Bread and Butter
Paul had a bachelor party that wanted an extreme trip and he surfed into bread and butter and flipped. I was able to pick up
one of his swimmers. Paul had the raft flipped back over and everyone back in the boat in no time.
Saturday March, 22 Richard Gray flipped at the Bridge Drop.
From what I heard Richard hit the drop sideways and the raft flipped. He was paddling a seven load in one of the NRS boats.
Saturday March, 22 Chris Bodman flipped at Biscuits and Gravy
According to Bodman he was attempting to surf when the river surged and that spun his raft sideways very quickly and ended
in a flip.
Saturday March, 22
David not Hepp flipped at Sunset
Not sure what happened. Kristen, who happened to be teaching guide school at the time jumped onto David’s raft and flipped it
back over.
Sunday March, 23 Reanann flipped at Shutdown
Reannen was on checkout run with Phil Melton. Paul Clewley who was river guarding said the raft came in sideways into
Shutdown and got sucked back into the hole and flipped quickly.
Saturday April, 5 Josh flipped at big drop
Josh was on a checkout run with Isaiah in the boat when he flipped coming down big drop when his boat hit the seam.
Wednesday April, 9 Tray flipped at lunch tray
Tray came over the rapid the wrong way and flipped. This flip was in front of guide school Kristin was able to help catch some
of the people. I was river guarding near sunset and witnessed his people swimming and Tray on top of the raft. Cass picked up
Tray’s throw bag in the confluence.
Thursday April 10 Nick flipped at shutdown
Nick was surfing and called an all down and when one of his guests stood up it shifted the weight of the boat and it flipped.
Friday April, 11 Richard Gray flipped at Big Drop
Richard hit the seam at big drop and it flipped his raft in short order.
Tuesday April, 15 Will M flipped at Big Drop
According to Will he was coming down Big Drop when another boat pulled out in front of him. Both boats hit with the end result
being Will flipped over.
Tuesday April, 15 Richard Gray flipped at Biscuits and Gravy
I was Richards safety boat and seen the flip. Richard dropped into the hole and lost his angle. The flip was slow and Richard
was almost able to keep the raft upright.
Thursday April, 17 Will Elder flipped near Dave’s Dilemma
Joe was on a checkout run with Isaiah when he bumped Will’s boat near Dave’s Dilemma and both boats wedged and came up in
the middle resulting in Will’s boat flipping and Joe’s boat dumping people on the rocks. After that Isaiah took back the paddle
and Joe failed his checkout run.
Friday April, 18 Adam D flipped at Big Drop
Adam was doing a ride along with George when he got stuck in Tourist trap Eddy. Adam attempted to get out a couple of times
and it looked like he was going to flip for sure. Being new I don’t think Adam knew was about to happen when he dipped
sideways into Big Drop. Of course we all know the end result was a flip. It was beautiful to see!
Sunday April, 20 Bloom flipped above Big Drop
According to Bloom he was coming around the corner when his raft went up on pillow rock and dropped off and flipped.
Everyone swam Big Drop.
Tuesday April, 22 Mike Clifton flipped at Big Drop
This flip ended up involving lots of people and I had a front row seat to it all in the river right eddy below Big drop. It all
started when Mike was stuck in tourist trap eddy and was having trouble getting out. The NRS raft started to get sucked
into the hole when mike called an all down and began to surf in an effort to get out. Well while Mike was surfing like a rock
star Justin E came around the corner toward the drop. Mike tried to get out of the hole and flipped his raft. I grabbed his
raft and started to try and pull it on the back of my raft to flip it over, but there were guests in the water I could reach so I
ended up picking up two swimmers. As I was pulling in the second swimmer Justin E comes popping up from under my boat. His
raft hit Mikes flipped raft and he and another person came out of his boat.
Will Elder who was river guarding did a tomahawk jump into Justin’s boat which was swirling in the tourist trap eddy. By now
Justin and Mike are in the bottom pond. Mikes boat makes it to the far left rock pile before it could be retrieved. It was
impressive how we all together to clean things up.
John Gordon who came down just behind all this took the brunt of it when one of Mikes swimmers he pulled in threw up chunks
all over him and his boat.
Tuesday April, 29 Phil Mershon flipped at Biscuits & Gravy
According to Phil his people were a bit slow in getting down and the boat spun sideways and flipped.
Friday May, 2 Josh McClure flipped at Big Drop
Josh came down Big Drop and hit the left seam and flipped. Reports of the flip say he was almost to the pumps before he was
able to get his raft flipped over.
Friday May, 2 Jamie B (AJ) flipped on bollards near Shutdown
Jamie’s raft got stuck on the river left bollards just before Shutdown and flipped. Jamie called the high side, but sometimes
there is nothing anyone can do to stop the force of the water.
Friday May, 2 Isaiah flipped on the bollards just after M-Wave
Isaiah’s raft hit the bollards just past M-Wave on river left and the force of the water flipped the raft.
Saturday May, 3 Justin E flipped at Big Drop
I believe Justin was attempting to ferry out of Tourist Trap eddy when the boat got surfed and flipped over. I was drifting
in the bottom pond near the conveyor and got to see Justin’s raft stuck on the river right bollards just past Big Drop. I rode
the conveyor up backwards so I could watch. It took Justin awhile to free his raft from the bollards because the chicken line
was stuck in the cluster of bollards.
Sunday May, 4 Paul Clewley flipped near Dave’s Dilemma
Anytime two rafts come together against a rock it tends to result in a flip for the raft away from the rock. This is how Paul
flipped on the river left rocks near Dave’s
The short answer is yes!
Here is a record of some of the flips at the USNWC in 2008
Tuesday, January, 29 James Poulsen flipped at shutdown.
The raft came in sideways through the hole and got sucked back in. This was on the first run of the first trip of 2008. I was
river guarding and witnessed the entire flip and was able to pull a couple of swimmers to shore. James was using a smaller
NRS raft which is more likely to flip and the water was much higher giving the pumps more horsepower then at the end of last
season. That turned shutdown into a monster. Out of all the guides out here James is probably the least likely to flip. That is
what makes this flip so funny.
Sunday, March, 16 Jerry Harms flipped at entrance exam.
Jerry was peeling out of entrance exam and one side of the boat all low sided at the same time. His raft nearly flipped onto
mine as I was peeling out of river right eddy. I picked up a swimmer from his boat.
Jerry was on top of his raft and had it flipped over in what could be described as record time and he was getting back in as he
was going over the next drop.
Wednesday March, 19 Philip Melton flipped at big drop.
According to Philip he went through big drop and was hanging out in Sam, the river right eddy below big drop. He was just
hanging out with his guests and the raft got sucked into the hole and flipped. Philip said it took him longer than normal to get to
his raft and collect his people because he was holding two female guests, (one on each side) as they floated down the last
rapids and into the bottom pond.
Saturday March, 22 Paul Clewley flipped at Bread and Butter
Paul had a bachelor party that wanted an extreme trip and he surfed into bread and butter and flipped. I was able to pick up
one of his swimmers. Paul had the raft flipped back over and everyone back in the boat in no time.
Saturday March, 22 Richard Gray flipped at the Bridge Drop.
From what I heard Richard hit the drop sideways and the raft flipped. He was paddling a seven load in one of the NRS boats.
Saturday March, 22 Chris Bodman flipped at Biscuits and Gravy
According to Bodman he was attempting to surf when the river surged and that spun his raft sideways very quickly and ended
in a flip.
Saturday March, 22
David not Hepp flipped at Sunset
Not sure what happened. Kristen, who happened to be teaching guide school at the time jumped onto David’s raft and flipped it
back over.
Sunday March, 23 Reanann flipped at Shutdown
Reannen was on checkout run with Phil Melton. Paul Clewley who was river guarding said the raft came in sideways into
Shutdown and got sucked back into the hole and flipped quickly.
Saturday April, 5 Josh flipped at big drop
Josh was on a checkout run with Isaiah in the boat when he flipped coming down big drop when his boat hit the seam.
Wednesday April, 9 Tray flipped at lunch tray
Tray came over the rapid the wrong way and flipped. This flip was in front of guide school Kristin was able to help catch some
of the people. I was river guarding near sunset and witnessed his people swimming and Tray on top of the raft. Cass picked up
Tray’s throw bag in the confluence.
Thursday April 10 Nick flipped at shutdown
Nick was surfing and called an all down and when one of his guests stood up it shifted the weight of the boat and it flipped.
Friday April, 11 Richard Gray flipped at Big Drop
Richard hit the seam at big drop and it flipped his raft in short order.
Tuesday April, 15 Will M flipped at Big Drop
According to Will he was coming down Big Drop when another boat pulled out in front of him. Both boats hit with the end result
being Will flipped over.
Tuesday April, 15 Richard Gray flipped at Biscuits and Gravy
I was Richards safety boat and seen the flip. Richard dropped into the hole and lost his angle. The flip was slow and Richard
was almost able to keep the raft upright.
Thursday April, 17 Will Elder flipped near Dave’s Dilemma
Joe was on a checkout run with Isaiah when he bumped Will’s boat near Dave’s Dilemma and both boats wedged and came up in
the middle resulting in Will’s boat flipping and Joe’s boat dumping people on the rocks. After that Isaiah took back the paddle
and Joe failed his checkout run.
Friday April, 18 Adam D flipped at Big Drop
Adam was doing a ride along with George when he got stuck in Tourist trap Eddy. Adam attempted to get out a couple of times
and it looked like he was going to flip for sure. Being new I don’t think Adam knew was about to happen when he dipped
sideways into Big Drop. Of course we all know the end result was a flip. It was beautiful to see!
Sunday April, 20 Bloom flipped above Big Drop
According to Bloom he was coming around the corner when his raft went up on pillow rock and dropped off and flipped.
Everyone swam Big Drop.
Tuesday April, 22 Mike Clifton flipped at Big Drop
This flip ended up involving lots of people and I had a front row seat to it all in the river right eddy below Big drop. It all
started when Mike was stuck in tourist trap eddy and was having trouble getting out. The NRS raft started to get sucked
into the hole when mike called an all down and began to surf in an effort to get out. Well while Mike was surfing like a rock
star Justin E came around the corner toward the drop. Mike tried to get out of the hole and flipped his raft. I grabbed his
raft and started to try and pull it on the back of my raft to flip it over, but there were guests in the water I could reach so I
ended up picking up two swimmers. As I was pulling in the second swimmer Justin E comes popping up from under my boat. His
raft hit Mikes flipped raft and he and another person came out of his boat.
Will Elder who was river guarding did a tomahawk jump into Justin’s boat which was swirling in the tourist trap eddy. By now
Justin and Mike are in the bottom pond. Mikes boat makes it to the far left rock pile before it could be retrieved. It was
impressive how we all together to clean things up.
John Gordon who came down just behind all this took the brunt of it when one of Mikes swimmers he pulled in threw up chunks
all over him and his boat.
Tuesday April, 29 Phil Mershon flipped at Biscuits & Gravy
According to Phil his people were a bit slow in getting down and the boat spun sideways and flipped.
Friday May, 2 Josh McClure flipped at Big Drop
Josh came down Big Drop and hit the left seam and flipped. Reports of the flip say he was almost to the pumps before he was
able to get his raft flipped over.
Friday May, 2 Jamie B (AJ) flipped on bollards near Shutdown
Jamie’s raft got stuck on the river left bollards just before Shutdown and flipped. Jamie called the high side, but sometimes
there is nothing anyone can do to stop the force of the water.
Friday May, 2 Isaiah flipped on the bollards just after M-Wave
Isaiah’s raft hit the bollards just past M-Wave on river left and the force of the water flipped the raft.
Saturday May, 3 Justin E flipped at Big Drop
I believe Justin was attempting to ferry out of Tourist Trap eddy when the boat got surfed and flipped over. I was drifting
in the bottom pond near the conveyor and got to see Justin’s raft stuck on the river right bollards just past Big Drop. I rode
the conveyor up backwards so I could watch. It took Justin awhile to free his raft from the bollards because the chicken line
was stuck in the cluster of bollards.
Sunday May, 4 Paul Clewley flipped near Dave’s Dilemma
Anytime two rafts come together against a rock it tends to result in a flip for the raft away from the rock. This is how Paul
flipped on the river left rocks near Dave’s